themodernletter.com

Alphabet

The alphabet is a series of symbols, also called letters that, all together, represent a writing system used by the majority of humans on earth. These symbols are simply called letters, and each one of these letters have a sound related to it. But the alphabet is not the only series of symbols used by men to communicate, there are also different types of signs like punctuation marks and spaces that allow to give to the writing more sense, and also allow to add emotions that are hard to express in writing.

And there are other modern uses of these symbols that most people may not be aware of. For example, in traditional notation of mathematical concepts, symbols abound. And then you have symbolism that is used in advertising. There are many of these so called advertising symbols that were designed to represent a particular brand or company. Take for instance the NorthFace logo you see on all of their products sold at department stores and outdoor retailers, as well as e commerce sites. Printed or embroidered on all their North Face fleece jackets and other clothing, the North Face’s quarter-circle logo, created by California designer David Alcorn in 1971, evokes Half Dome, that massive iconic granitic monolith found in Yosemite National Park is memorable. The NorthFace graphic symbol is recognizable to anyone who is familiar with quality outdoor clothing, shoes, and outdoor equipment. In the 21st century where people and companies are more readily recognized for what they represent, the use of symbols have become more important, and the use of them as logos, increasingly complex.

The name alphabet comes from the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet and means Aleph and Beth. The Phoenician alphabetic scrip of 22 letters was used at Byblos as early as the 15th century B.C. This method of writing, later adopted by the Greeks, is the ancestor of the modern Roman alphabet, and is still today the most remarkable and distinctive contribution to civilization. Phoenician script was even the alphabet used for transliterating the Holy Bible in Hebrew. Today, the Hebrew alphabet is very closely related to the Phoenician script, which itself probably gave rise to the use of alphabetic writing in Greece.

The alphabet has been copied and adapted to suit many different languages. Even though the alphabet cannot fit its language perfectly, it is flexible enough to fit any language approximately. The alphabet that we use in
English, and in most America and Europe is called the Roman alphabet.

Their are some other languages that do not use symbols that mean a sound, but symbols that mean a word or a syllabe. And most of these languages are spoken in Asia. As an example, the Chinese writing is called “pictographic” because their writing came from using pictures to show words or ideas. Concerning the Japanese writing, it is a mix of the Chinese writing and two syllabaries called Hiragana and Katakana. Modern Japanese often also uses Romaji, which is the Japanese syllabary written in the Roman alphabet.